Weekly Wrap Up 8-27-10

This week went by fast.  This year things are going much more smoothly than before.  I am attributing that to having a schedule, and sticking to it as much as possible.  Oh, it needs a little adjusting here and there.  I need more constructive activities for Megan.  She gets bored easily and then is disruptive.  I sometimes have to switch things around for Laura, but only a little here and there.  The days remain the same as much as possible.  Laura is thriving with this.

Science - Laura is working this week on length, weight, and temperature.

Math - We are still in review of last year's concepts.  However, maybe it is because she is a little older, but she is doing so well this year but I wonder if she is the same child.  I guess we shall see when she hits the newer material.  I can't say enough good things about how much Timestales has improved Laura's attitude about math.  She learned her upper times tables in just a couple days.  It may have taken around an hour total.  It's amazing!

Literature and Creative Writing - Laura is still working on Choice Stories for Children, and will be for a bit longer.  She is studying having Good Habits while reading her stories.  She is learning about different kinds of literature. 

Word Building - Laura missed three this week out of 21 words.  However, her review words from last week were perfect.  She is doing well, working hard.  The three words she missed, ironically, she got correct on the pretest she took on Wednesday.  The ones she missed on Wednesday she got correct today.  However, I review the ones she misses the following week so things will stick.  We'll also do a large review test in a few weeks.

Social Studies - Laura worked on map work this week.  She also learned a bit about a pie graph.  Her lessons on stewardship talked about how Possessions Do Not Bring Happiness and how Children are the Heritage of the Lord.

English - Laura finished up another English pace this week.  She is moving rather quickly.  However, next week she moves from confusing word pairs to letter writing.  This one may take a little more time.

Reading - Laura is still reading Captive Treasure for her Independent Reading.  I usually only let her read a chapter per day.  She will finish the book next week.  For our Read Aloud, we finished The Stories of the Pilgrims this week.  Laura really enjoyed this book, which surprised me.  I decided to completely change the selection I had picked and move on to Boys and Girls of Colonial Times, another Christian Liberty Press novel.  Since Laura is enjoying some historical stories, I want to keep going.

Devotions - We are still working on Purity and being pure in heart in our devotions together in the morning.  For her devotions on her own, Laura has covered topics such as Worry, Humility, Love, and Compassion.  In Bible reading, we have read from Acts 8 through Acts 22.  This makes it feel like a lot of reading during the day.  Reading to Laura sometimes can be quite time consuming.  However, I love the way things seem to sink in deeper when she is read to.  Her heart seems more open, more tender when she is hearing the Words of God read aloud.  She asks a lot of questions.  She doesn't do that when she is reading to herself.  While I want her to begin to read the Bible herself too, I love the time we spend together.

Character Training - Laura's character lessons this week, besides the ones covered in her devotions, concerned being thrifty, being consistent, being generous, developing good habits, being self-controlled. and being tactful.

Next week hasn't been planned yet in detail.  I tend to set goals for the week; amount of work we want to cover in some subjects.  However, so far, we have more than met the goals I have set.  I am happy to be a little ahead.  You never know when something can come up to set you back. Things come up, like illnesses or emergencies.  Being ahead of the game helps me not feel rushed later should the need arise to take off a day or two.

I was surprised this week when a person close to me began to question my homeschooling.  For the two years I have been teaching my children, this person hasn't really given much attention to my homeschooling.  I haven't felt a lot of support for homeschooling my children.  However, I have followed what I believe is God's will.  For those that have concerns or are not overly enthusiastic about my decisions, I've developed a tougher skin lately.  It may sting at first that others don't share my convictions or don't believe I can successfully teach my children.  In fact, it gets down-right lonely with no one around that shares my convictions and is homeschooling herself.  However, this is a path that Jesus put me on. If others don't understand, I can only hope and pray that Jesus has a reward for me in heaven.